Diving - snorkeling. The most frequently asked questions about scuba diving or, in common parlance, diving

A diver differs from a diver in that the former dives into the water for work, and the latter for pleasure. Nowadays, more and more people are showing interest in scuba diving. Just a few years ago, diving training courses were quite expensive, but today the prices are quite reasonable to learn how to scuba dive. Given the ever-growing number of diving enthusiasts, the site offers a look at what beginners need to know about diving.

Diving is a form of underwater diving in which the diver uses a special device - scuba gear. Scuba divers or divers are the names of people who are interested in this type of recreation. As a rule, diving is done to admire the flora and fauna of the underwater world. In addition, scuba diving is an excellent form of group recreation. You can learn the basics of scuba diving from the age of 10-14.

Don't think that diving is easy. If you are a good swimmer and diver, this does not mean that you can buy scuba diving equipment and go to the nearest body of water. Firstly, no one will sell scuba gear and other equipment to an amateur; to purchase you need to provide a special international certificate. Secondly, the lack of necessary skills will not lead to anything good. There are also a number of contraindications for scuba diving: tuberculosis, cardiovascular diseases, spinal injuries, respiratory diseases, epilepsy, etc. Before enrolling in courses, be sure to consult with your doctor or professional diving instructor.

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Choosing a training system

If you decide to learn diving, first of all you should choose the international federation that suits you, which offers its own teaching methods. Among the most famous are CMAS, founded by Cousteau in 1959, TDI/SDI, founded in 1994 by Gilliam, IANTD, created by Rutkowski in 1985. Choosing a suitable system is actually not very difficult, it all depends on the goals that those who want to learn diving set for themselves; each of the training methods has positive and negative aspects. It is important to know that the choice of a particular system must be approached very seriously, since if you choose one that is not generally recognized in the world, and the result of training is an unknown, internationally not recognized certificate, your time will be wasted.

Many professionals recommend completing PADI courses, which include 4 groups: Introductory Programs, Recreational Diving Programs, PADI Specializations and PADI Professional Courses. As a rule, experts advise completing the PADI Open Water Diver recreational diving program - it introduces the rules of scuba diving and the basics of using equipment. The course includes several theoretical lessons, pool and open water dives. Once the course is completed, the student receives a certificate that is valid in all countries of the world.

What you need to know about equipment

When signing up for diving courses, you should not think about the need to buy equipment for the classes. As a rule, many schools and clubs provide their own equipment. If you enjoy scuba diving, at the end of the course you will be able to purchase the one that is perfect for you. Clubs provide a choice of cheap and more expensive equipment, everyone chooses based on their capabilities, but beginners need to pay special attention to some elements of equipment.

The mask should fit well to the face (do not allow too much pressure) and be comfortable, the snorkel should be chosen with a comfortable mouthpiece, and the fins should be soft and long. The wetsuit is selected based on the temperature of the water you will have to swim in (thick suits are designed for swimming in cold water, thin suits for swimming in warm water). The choice of cylinder directly depends on the depth of immersion, in other words, the greater the depth, the larger the cylinder is needed.

An integral attribute of the equipment is the so-called buoyancy compensator, which is intended to maintain the diver's buoyancy, as well as a belt with a weight that does not allow one to constantly float to the surface (there are ordinary belts with weights, and there are belts with pockets, which are considered the best). If there is such an opportunity, experienced divers are advised to take a dive computer with them to depths, which is selected taking into account the nature of the dive.

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Where can I study?

The first problem that beginners face is putting on a diving suit. This is especially difficult the first time, but the instructors reassure us that after 3-4 times this process will take less than 5 minutes. The most difficult thing is the cylinders and weights, which can weigh more than 15 kilograms. The second problem lies in human psychology: it is very difficult to step into a pool or open water for the first time, but after a short time all fears are left behind, the beginner begins to enjoy weightlessness.

You should definitely learn scuba diving under the supervision of an experienced instructor. Today there are a huge number of specialized centers and clubs that offer training courses consisting of theoretical and practical classes, the result of which is a qualifying dive in an open water body.

Such clubs and centers are located in many cities: Lviv, Sevastopol, Kyiv, Lutsk, Odessa, Zaporozhye, Dnepropetrovsk, Khmelnitsky... Some of them have their bases near the Black or Azov Sea. Also, anyone can go on vacation (Turkey, Egypt, Israel, Cyprus, Maldives) to learn diving and receive a scuba diver certificate. Some choose the second option, but it is not suitable for everyone, since people want to relax more than acquire new skills. The price for a training course lasting from 5 to 14 days in Ukrainian centers starts from 300 USD. That is, prices are higher abroad, which is why many people prefer to learn diving at home. There are only three options for “home” training: a large club, a small club, and a private instructor.

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Big club

People who have completed the courses do not recommend applying to large clubs, since in them the training of those interested is put on a conveyor belt, that is, for an instructor, working with 15-20 people, it will be extremely problematic, if not impossible, to pay enough attention to each student. Because of this, of course, the quality of education suffers. Most of these centers have their own, where you can very easily select suitable equipment and buy it cheaper than in other places. This is how they usually talk about it, but in reality the prices for equipment in such stores are initially overpriced. There are, of course, advantages, among which the most significant is its own educational and technical base.

Small diver training center

Private instructor

As for classes with an independent instructor, this is a big risk. Having worked with a professional for the allotted time, you may not receive a certification card from him, since the instructor suddenly left, for example, for the Maldives. Such people are their own masters; if they get a lucrative offer, they can immediately drop everything and go wherever they are called. When contacting a private instructor, you only have to rely on his responsibility. You can study with an independent instructor only if at least several people you know and trust who have completed the training recommend him. In this case, you can receive training that will be many times better than that received in a large or small club.

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While still preparing for Thailand, I decided to try new sports for myself - windsurfing and diving. To my surprise, there is no smell of windsurfing here. I had to limit myself to diving, but that’s not bad either.

I took a one-day tour to the islands and began to wait for tomorrow. It's not that I'm freaking out or worried. Not at all. Just such normal self-indifference, as if diving to the bottom of the ocean was a routine activity for me.

I didn’t even really remember that I knew about it, I didn’t scour the Internet. I think I already guessed that it wasn’t for me, but I still wanted to try it.

It's morning. A phone call from a Thai minivan driver collecting tourists from hotels said that “dyaivin, masina, go.” The Thais remind me terribly of the Chinese, they chat in the same way, even when they try to say something in English, you won’t understand. It’s strange, of course, but almost no English is spoken in this tourist country.

In general, I went.

At the pier we were met by the company manager, this is the manager who deals with affairs on the ship, and not in the office, not a rear rat, but a real diver) a very friendly guy, he took us to the yacht and then was there all the time and solved our questions)

Those who needed it were given anti-sickness pills and given the first instructions on how to use the yacht.

Nothing interesting yet. He talked about breakfast and lunch, about the fact that smoking is on the nose and nowhere else (because the air in scuba tanks is taken directly from the air))) and if tobacco smoke gets there, breathing in the water will not be very comfortable. In scuba gear, it turns out there is no oxygen, not some kind of mixture, but ordinary sea air, compressed into several atmospheres. Only dried so that the inside of the cylinder does not rust. Therefore, this air dries out your mouth, but as soon as you drink some water, everything immediately becomes normal. There is no need to worry about this dryness.

He told me that there is alcohol on board, but you can drink it only after diving, or instead of diving. By the way, a bottle of whiskey costs 200 baht, probably lousy whiskey, I don’t drink, so I didn’t rate it.

There were enough fruits, water, tea, condensed milk and some pies and it was nice) and also, of course, the friendly attitude of the crew towards us, dummies) despite the heat, the atmosphere was conducive and we wanted to go to sea.

The second briefing was more interesting and important. Already another instructor with jokes and jokes caught up with horror stories about the mistakes of beginners. He forbade holding your breath under water. The lungs, he says, can explode. I decided for myself that I would breathe even if I didn’t want to. He told me how to deal with pressure under water. The bottom line is that due to excess pressure in the water column, the eardrum bends and this causes those very unpleasant sensations. So here it is. To bend this membrane back, you need to plug your nose and try to exhale forcefully, building up the pressure from within. And everything will be ok. I remembered that we played around with this as a child, it was called “breathing through the ears”) Everyone succeeded, but for me the air came out not through my ears like everyone else, but for some reason through my eyes with a tear. And now it has come back to haunt me. But I’m already getting ahead of myself.

This exercise is called “blowing out the ears,” and you need to do it as often as possible. Then there should be no discomfort.

You cannot swim ahead of the instructor. You cannot sail beyond the limits of visibility, this is 10 meters maximum, and if you are already lost, then stand and wait in place, do not panic, they will definitely find you. If you start twitching, you’ll definitely get caught in some kind of current, and then everything will become very complicated.

It is advisable to look at your feet. A lot of sea urchins. True, they are not poisonous as in the Red Sea, but still not very pleasant. A needle that has entered the body cannot be pulled out; it will have to be broken into small pieces and then it will dissolve on its own. The only consolation is that this substance is terribly useful. But still, you shouldn’t inject yourself on purpose either.

Now about the signs. There are seven main ones. Ok, up, down, problems, stop, look and something else. Everything is easy, everything is clear, but where did it all go after the dive? I only remember “ok”, the rest just flew out of my head) when I floated to the surface, I remembered everything again)

You also need to be able to use these signs. And then one guy confidently shows “ok”, and he himself has lost his flipper, and a full mask of water, and something else. I was probably embarrassed to disturb the instructor, and my ego wouldn’t let me give up. This looks exactly like me) In general, such heroism does not lead to good things.

By the way, if water gets into the mask, you can blow it out quite simply, if you don’t worry. Of course, you can’t remove it to drain this water) Otherwise, in some people such a reflex manifests itself. If possible, it is better to forget about reflexes, and constantly think and remember how each action is correct, how necessary. You are also allowed to cough into the mask, no big deal.

But smiling in the water is not advisable. Water from the ocean is then poured into the corners of the mouth. You need to swim with a very serious face, as if your whole life is a problem. And divers swim only with their legs. Of course, it is not forbidden to row with your hands, but then you need to be careful not to disturb those swimming nearby. And do everything slowly, slowly, without rushing anywhere; diving is a sport for those who are leisurely.

Oh, corals! Beautiful... You can only see this underwater. But you can’t touch them, because they come across razor-sharp ones and you can cut your hands very badly; the instructor scared you that you could even cut your tendons. In general, you can touch it if he allows it; there is also a special sign for this. But under no circumstances should you break it off to take it as a souvenir. Not only is this just disgusting, corals grow very, very, very slowly, but at customs there are serious fines for such things, from 60 thousand rubles.

And finally, two more rules after surfacing, if I’m alive, of course, I’ll stay) we take off our fins in the water, throw them on board and only after that we climb, because it’s simply unrealistic to climb stairs with fins. On the contrary, we take off the mask already on the ship, because if you pull it over your forehead in the water, the wave can wash it away and then catch it in the ocean.

Well, rush hour has arrived. First dive for beginners to 7 meters.

They put scuba gear on us (the whole thing weighs 16 kg, it’s a serious infection, but you don’t feel it at all in the water). But first, a belt with a weight, you stand in front of it, bend over, lay it on your back and fasten it in front. The only thing out of all the equipment that I put on myself. Then they dressed me in four hands. Vest, scuba gear, mask. You first need to spit well into the mask and rub it. This is done to prevent it from fogging up. There is some substance in human saliva that very successfully fights this, then you rinse it off with some water and everything is fine.

I’m sitting, waiting for the command, I remember, this button is to inflate the vest, this button is to deflate the vest, on the right is the regulator through which you breathe... On the left are a couple of other hoses... I try once again to “blow out my ears” and learn to breathe into the regulator only with my mouth. Damn, it’s not working, there’s not enough air! I'm in a slight panic, what will it be like underwater? Now I periodically gasp for air through my nose, but I can’t with my mouth! I'm suffocating! Oh well, I think we’ll break through, there won’t be any other options below anyway. Mouth like mouth.

Further - everything is in a fog) Already dressed in scuba gear, he approached the steps at the tailgate. Sat down. He stretched out his legs. They put flippers on them. I rinsed my face with water. I put on a mask. Got up. I came to the edge. I heard the vest inflate. I put the regulator in my mouth. AND…. Once! Two! Three! Stepped forward and down!

I surfaced, spat, I had to hold the mask with my hand more tightly) and after a couple of minutes I already got the hang of swimming on the surface and turning around.

Again I try to breathe only through my mouth, but this time into the water. It’s very uncomfortable, you constantly want to stick your nose out and take a deep breath. But here's the command - down, we deflate the vests and dive. First time at 7 meters. I’m trying to “blow out my ears”, I don’t understand whether it’s working or not, of course I feel pressure, but it’s tolerable, like on an airplane. In general, I enjoy the underwater world, I swim around the instructor, up and down, left and right, horizontally and vertically, everything works out fine.

I try to hold my nose with my hand so as not to accidentally inhale when I hold it, there are no options, I breathe through my mouth. Sometimes I forget myself, but nothing bad happens.

We swam for about 30 minutes and then came up.
You can even say that you liked it.
After lunch there will be a dive to 12 meters, I’m waiting and a little worried.

But at greater depths everything was not so smooth. The ears were blocked very badly, sometimes even painfully. I wanted to end it all, but I stuck it out. In general, I didn’t enjoy the beauty so much as I overcame myself.

Diving is not my thing. But, of course, it’s very beautiful there underwater)

Diving- scuba diving is a relatively young sport. Why do people dive? Hard to say. Most likely, a thirst for thrills, a desire to feel the effect of adrenaline in the blood, and finally, healthy curiosity, or maybe a desire for achievements or self-taming, who knows... There can be any number of reasons. But this is not the main thing. The main thing is that a person strives to live an interesting life and enjoy life.

The best option for those who want to go diving is to find a diving center that has already proven itself and take an initial course in scuba diving and scuba diving there.

But, unfortunately, this type of sports entertainment, so to speak, has contraindications. And, despite its growing popularity, scuba diving, while still remaining an extreme form of entertainment, still has a number of contraindications.

First of all, serious illnesses such as:

• schizophrenia,
• bronchial asthma,
• encephalopathy,

as well as diseases of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems - lung diseases,

• heart failure,
• severe hypo- and hypertension.

During scuba diving, these diseases can lead to suffocation, cardiac arrest, dizziness, loss of consciousness, seizures, as well as vomiting and uncontrollable behavior.

Temporary contraindications are all acute diseases . The most common are acute respiratory diseases, flu, colds, bronchitis, rhinitis (acute runny nose).

For example, if you have a runny nose, then immersion will not allow you to “blow out”, and this can lead to otitis media - a complication of the ears. The same applies to colds and viral diseases: cough, fever, chills, general poor health - these are direct indicators to give up scuba diving and wait until complete recovery. Because hypothermia can cause serious complications. It is not at all necessary that catarrhal sore throat will turn into lacunar or follicular sore throat as a result of immersion, but the risk is great, and a couple of days will not solve anything - it is better to be patient than to be treated for a long time and persistently for complications.
Thus, all acute diseases are direct contraindications to diving.

Concerning chronic diseases .

Any acute disease usually leads to some changes of an organic and physiological nature, disrupting the functioning of the body or its individual functions. If there is a constant disruption of the functions of individual organs, then we are talking about a chronic disease in remission. This disease, with minor changes in diseased organs, is usually fully compensated by the body. And if there is a compensated disease of a chronic nature, there are practically no contraindications for scuba diving, but we are only talking about scuba diving, and not about sport diving.

Remember: the maximum diving depth is forty meters, and for beginners - only up to five meters. When diving to a lower depth, states of excitation and severe weakness can be provoked. Hallucinations may occur - auditory and visual, attention and spatial orientation may decrease.

The first time I learned that you can swim underwater like a fish was when I saw a program by Jacques Yves Cousteau. Who knew that 15 years later I would be performing equally interesting tricks underwater, exploring the depths of the sea. Now I have already completed more than 30 dives in different parts of the world. And I have to admit, I have moments when I’m standing in the kitchen, chopping onions or cooking lasagna and realizing that I’m missing a couple of puffs of oxygen from the cylinder through the regulator.

Diving is an addiction. Diving is risky. Diving is the best hobby in the world. Why? Because when you’re not diving, you want to do it, and when you’re underwater, there’s no better feeling in the world.

I am 27 years old. I made my first dive when I was a 19-year-old girl. I came to Egypt alone during my student holidays. Since there were few activities at the inexpensive hotel, the only interesting entertainment was fishing or diving.

To be honest, I am very afraid of water. Once I almost drowned in the sea, and any swim beyond the possibility of standing firmly on my feet brought me to a fit of hysterics.

And then, lying on the beach and thinking about the futility of existence, I realized that I desperately wanted to do something crazy.
It was diving. Of course, I didn’t rent scuba gear and rush off in a daze to scare the local fish - I turned to a certified diving school, where I was given instructions, required to pass an exam, and only after training in shallow water was given the opportunity to dive into the depths.

How and where is the best place to start diving?

When I talk about my hobby in a group, my friends always ask the same question: “What should I do to start diving?” In order to get started, you only need two things: the desire to do it and a computer with Internet access.

With desire, everything is clear: only people who do not like anything new and are terribly afraid of water can refuse the pleasure of seeing the world that Disney so heavily advertised to us in the cartoon “The Little Mermaid.” And almost every Russian family has a computer with the Internet. So, we type “where to start diving” into a search engine, and lo and behold, hundreds of thousands of links advertise different resorts to us.

Of course, you can dive in any place where there is a body of water more than two meters deep, but it is important to remember that diving is still not a very cheap pleasure. And during a dive there is a certain risk.

Egypt- a national Russian health resort, where it is beautiful under water, budget-friendly for the wallet, and the Red Sea is salty and quite warm. It is important to take into account that in this country there is a high risk of ending up with a dubious company, so you should always ask the guide which dive center to go to. This will keep you healthy and give you a real thrill from diving.

Thailand- a place with fewer beautiful fish, but with a large number of dive sites “sniffed” by professionals (this is the name of a special dive site). If you try, you can find specialized diving training centers for Russian tourists, where there are Russian-speaking masters. Although it doesn’t matter what language you speak, no one will force you to practice Thai or English underwater.

If we are talking about saving, my advice to you is to go to Black Sea coast or in Crimea. I’m not sure that in terms of rent it will cost less than at foreign resorts, but tickets will be cheaper, and there will be no problems with communication “here and now.” It is worth considering that there are no super beautiful fish in the Black Sea, and the water is colder than in Egypt and Thailand. But for amateurs, shallow-sea excursions are thought out, where fun is organized. For example, not far from Anapa there is a dive site called Bolshoy Utrish, where busts of Stalin and Lenin, a motorcycle and a sewing machine are drowned - you can not only practice diving, but also take a bunch of hilarious photos.

And those who do not think about the budget can safely pack up and fly to Australia or at Maldives, where it’s warm, stunningly beautiful and premium diving. It is important to remember that in these countries it is difficult to find a Russian-speaking instructor. Therefore, those who are not fluent in English will have a very difficult time with even the simplest diver terminology.

Based on my experience, I can give some advice to those who really want to try scuba diving. Here are five key ones:

1. The main thing is not to be afraid. The worst thing has already happened to you - you were born. Now there is only fun and new interesting hobbies.
2. Obey the instructor unquestioningly and carefully watch and remember what is said and shown during the instruction.
3. Remember what a scuba gear consists of, how and what is attached to it, when it is unscrewed or, on the contrary, screwed on, because your life depends on knowing the equipment!
4. Learn sign language. At first glance, this seems easy and funny, but in a situation close to combat, without knowing the special signs, you can simply get confused and mislead your instructor.
5. Always keep an eye on your instructor or diving partner (the diver with whom you are diving) so that you can provide or receive assistance if necessary.

Why is training important for beginners?

As I noted earlier, it is mandatory to undergo instructions before diving! Diving is a very pleasant pastime; one of the international diving schools once even had the slogan Diving is fun. But! Any fun has a certain risk, scuba diving is no exception. Therefore, passing the first briefing for future divers is very important: it will not only let you know whether you want to continue diving (you need to learn a bunch of things that you need to do on your own before/during/after the dive), but it will also save your life if necessary.

What to remember

• Under no circumstances should you dive if you are feeling unwell.
  Any cold prohibits even attempts to dive into water: the ears must be blown out (more on this below) when diving to depth. A cold affects this ability, which means it can harm your ears, nasopharynx and the thrill of diving.
• Take care of your heart!
  And not even your mother’s main organ, but your own. During the day you should forget about alcohol: even a small dose of “that delicious cocktail” can provoke an active heartbeat and affect the normal functioning of the heart under water. And at best, this will end in a visit to a cardiologist, and at worst, in hospitalization.

And we didn’t even reach the water!

What to do with equipment

My instructor showed me the following steps for assembling equipment:

1. First take the BCD and attach the cylinder to it. There is a certain fastening technique: the top strap should lie on the cylinder at a distance of one palm from the edge (approximately 10-12 centimeters). The cylinder must be fixed to the BCD as much as possible so that it does not fall off during the dive.
2. The next step is attaching the regulator: usually the valve through which the regulator is attached to the cylinder is closed with a special plug: it is important that the valve is always clean. Before screwing the regulator to the cylinder, you need to check the cleanliness of the valve and lubricate the rubber band a little with saliva, since oxygen is under pressure, the rubber deteriorates from overdrying. This way we prolong her life.
3. After attaching the regulator, we attach the lower stage to the inflator, thereby making it possible to regulate the volume of air in the BCD.
4. It's time to check: slowly and very gently open the cylinder. We heard that air was starting to flow, we pressed the octopus a couple of times: in the middle there is a soft rubberized part for forced air supply. We hear that air is coming out, we check the pressure in the cylinder on the dashboard (should be from 180 to 230 bar). Screw on the valve and bleed the air. The equipment is ready for use.
5. It is necessary to select a belt with weights. This is done with the help of an instructor, depending on the type of wetsuit, the weight of the person and the depth of the planned dive. Usually a load of 4 to 8 kilograms is given. The stones are evenly distributed across the person’s belt so that there is no overweight.
6. The belt is selected, fins of the appropriate size are found, the wetsuit is put on. I'll add this on my own behalf. I have very sensitive skin, so when I was diving in a long wetsuit, lightning broke the skin on my ankle. It was very painful, and the wounds did not go away for several weeks. And with the fins I rubbed calluses on my fingers. Therefore, my advice to you: if you know that your skin is sensitive to external irritants, do not be lazy to stock up on a patch.

How to Communicate in the Realm of Silence

Of course, the instructor on your first dive can take a tablet with a special marker to correspond with you, but isn’t it easier to immediately learn the gestures for divers to communicate? Here are the main ones:

I hope that you have guessed that in order to always be in touch, it is important to keep your instructor or partner in sight, so that if necessary, you can always come to his aid.

About the dive

So, you put on your wetsuit, put on a weight belt, opened the cylinder valve, checked (as described above) the pressure in the cylinder, and put on the BCD. And it’s better to do this while sitting, because the heavy cylinder behind your back will pull you back. All that remains is to put on fins, a mask and carefully paddle to the edge of the boat, from which you can take a step into the unknown.

And here, I’m standing on the asphalt wearing skis... What should I do? First, let the instructor jump off the board first. It will control your movements in the water. Secondly, inflate the BCD to the maximum, so that the moment you fly into the water, the balloon does not immediately drag you down without a gesture from the instructor about diving. Third, insert the octopus into your mouth and put on the mask. Get to the very edge. Breathe through the octopus, hold it with your right hand, pressing it to your mouth, and hold the mask with your left in the same way. It is logical that they do not fall out when hitting the water - step with your right foot and... you are in the water.

There is another way to enter the water. For me, more interesting. If the boat does not have a side to take a step, then sit with your back to the abyss of the sea, raise your legs up, push off, mentally shout “Geronimo” and fall into the water.

Voila, as they say, you are in. What to do first? Come to your senses, breathe slowly, spit out the octopus - and let it sink into the water, nothing bad will happen. Take off the mask, spit inside - yes, you read that word correctly - spit. From the heart) And rub the saliva. This is why everyone recommends having your own mask. Imagine how many people have already given a damn in public?! So, rub it, wash it, put it on - now the mask will not fog up.
Second: find it through the eyes of the instructor. Because now he is a king, a guru, a master - call it what you want. Not a step away from him, not a flip of a flipper.

He shows a fist with his thumb down, we dive in: we insert the octopus into the mouth, but remember that there is water there - a sharp exhalation, and the unique breathing mechanism is cleared of unnecessary moisture. You can even spit saliva there: it will go out through special holes. It is worth noting that there are special holders inside the octopus so that the mechanism “sits” comfortably in the mouth - instructors advise not to bite them, as the rubber can be easily damaged. So, we breathe and begin the dive: we press our finger into the inflator button with the hose raised up, the BCD is deflated, the weight of the cylinder, weights and the whole body pulls down.

Oh yes, the most important thing! Ears. We noticed that the nose of the mask is covered with soft rubber - this is not at all so that fish can swim up and hit it with their fins. This is done to make it convenient for the diver to equalize the pressure in the ears.
The delicate mechanism that controls our hearing and motor coordination is not designed for the rapid changes in pressure experienced during a dive. Despite the fact that we descend under water quite slowly, it is very important to maintain a balance of pressure in the middle ear. And every meter of immersion must be accompanied by an exhalation with a pinched nose.
Pinch your nose with two fingers and exhale into your nose. The pressure has leveled off. If this does not happen, painful barotrauma to the middle ear is likely. This is the most common injury among divers. Therefore, it is not recommended to dive if you have a cold - it can be very difficult to “blow off”, which means you can easily cause barotrauma.

I have to admit that my first dive into the water was accompanied by hysterics. It’s cool to write about this while sitting on the couch, because during the dive I was stung by a jellyfish for the first time. Hellish burning pain (the burn was then covered with vinegar, and the stain lasted for several years). We sank a meter down, there were tears in our eyes and there was not enough air. We surfaced. The instructor said that such panic attacks are not uncommon. I caught my breath, we tried a second time, it seemed to go easier. And we sank to a depth of 12 meters to the reef.
By the way, it is important to note one more point. We breathe evenly and slowly, into half our lungs. Inhale slowly, exhale slowly. If you breathe very quickly, the oxygen will also run out quickly, and you will not have time to admire the beauty of the sea.

What do you think I tried to do right away? Naturally, touch “that fish over there that looks like a pebble.” Fortunately, the instructor noticed my joyful outburst in time and pulled my hand to stop me. And already on the shore he explained that if I had touched her, they would have managed to save me in the first 40 minutes. And then everything: cardiac arrest and death. I encountered a scorpion fish on my young diving journey and almost cost me my life - it all cost me a couple of gray hairs from the instructor.

Divers have a “golden rule”: never touch anything with your hands. Firstly, so as not to disturb the purity of nature and the habitat of marine animals, and secondly, simply because sometimes it can be overly dangerous. Therefore, when diving, divers usually hold their elbows so that there is no temptation to grab sea life.

And so you swim, don’t touch the sea urchins, follow the instructor, breathe slowly, but after about an hour, when the pressure in the tank approaches 50 bars, it’s time to surface. The instructor shows us the “class”, we rise. There is no such system for beginners, but for those who will dive to 25, 30 or 40 meters, there is a rule that you need to hover for several minutes before ascending at a certain depth, so that decompression does not occur. In simple words, so as not to “boil the blood” Gases dissolved in the blood and tissues of the body begin to move from a molecular to a gaseous state and are released in the form of bubbles, which can destroy the walls of cells and blood vessels and block blood flow. Sometimes this is fatal, but most often the person spends a long time undergoing rehabilitation in a pressure chamber.

One point is important: you should always indicate your presence when surfacing. One hand should always be raised up. We surfaced, thanked the instructor and made sure to inflate our BCD. If we don’t see a boat within walking distance, we turn over on our back when the waves are large and cover our heads, put the octopus in our mouth and swim, helping ourselves with our fins. But we periodically check the coordinates so as not to fit our heads into the side of the waiting ship.

Usually, when we climb out onto the boat, no one helps from below, so it is recommended to first take off our fins (yes, this usually happens in the shrimp position), throw them on board, and then climb onto the boat. If this is a rubber motorboat, then you will have to make every effort of the press to slide into it. It’s good to have comrades who are always ready to help. You can unfasten the BCD, the vest will not sink, because it is fully inflated, and first give it away, and then slide into the boat yourself, in general, act according to the circumstances.

We must remember: if we dived in salt water, all equipment must be desalinated. Usually boats have special containers with fresh water. We closed the cylinder, bleed the air, disconnected the BCD and went to wash the vest, regulator, fins, and mask. A belt and a balloon are not necessary, but sometimes it won’t hurt either.

Finally

After reading this entire set of important rules, you will think: why do I need all this? After all, I can watch fish in the aquarium, and learn about dolphins on some educational channel. Believe me, the feeling is fantastic when you can swim in the depths with a turtle (what happened to me in the Maldives) or explore up and down a barge that sank during shelling near Anapa.

After the second dive you want more. This is a kind of dependence, a necessity and a need to be there, under the thickness of the water, where an amazing underwater silent world opens up, inaccessible to us for so many centuries.

I’ll end with a little story: last year on my birthday, I and my friends were vacationing in the Anapa area, we came to the famous dive site Bolshoy Utrish. My diver card has my date of birth on it. The instructor said that we would “fall” to 26 meters in honor of the round anniversary, and I asked him to get me some fresh oysters that grew on the site where we dived.

We swam for almost an hour, and I learned what a thermocline (a sharp flow of icy water) is, fortunately I was wearing a thick wetsuit. The instructor caught seven kilograms of oysters. How we prepared them is a separate story. But in one I came across a pearl. I still have it in my jewelry box as a Black Sea souvenir.

P.S. If you are afraid to dive, hesitate and doubt, just remember that there is only one life, and when, if not in it, try everything. Well, if you have already dived, I would like to dive on the Great Barrier Reef someday. I'm sure you'll like it.

Anything to add?

prices for beginners prices for certified prices training prices equipment rental

Trial dive with an instructor - 2500 rubles.

Basics of diving for beginners

(+500 RUR photos, optional)

Individual accompaniment by an instructor underwater guarantees complete safety, briefing before the dive, equipment rental is included in the price, underwater photography and video shooting is also possible at your request.

Extended route
price 2500 rub.
immersion depth up to 10 meters
up to 40-50 min. under the water

Economy option
price 2000 rub. (preliminary agreement)
immersion depth up to 5 meters
up to 20 min. under the water

Boat diving in Balaklava
price 3000 rub.
immersion depth up to 8 meters
up to 25 min.

under the water

Underwater photography
You receive from 20 to 50 photos
price 500 rub.

Underwater video shooting.
Film, editing.
price 1000r.

Underwater video shooting.
Separate underwater operator, ordered in advance.
Film, editing.
price from 2500 rub.

When diving with scuba gear at a dive center, there are two main categories:

• dives for beginners
• dives for certified divers.

A certified diver is a person who has already completed a training course and has a certificate (a plastic card on which is marked when and with whom he completed this training). The diving training course takes more than one day.

Before diving, beginner divers are given instructions, and they must go underwater together with an instructor. Beginners (introdivers) are people without a certificate, regardless of whether it is their first, third, fifth or tenth dive. If all of them were carried out in introdive mode, “the first scuba dive,” then the diver is called an introdiver - a novice in diving.

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Sign up for a dive

Diving is a sport in which an athlete is immersed in water with scuba gear - a device that supports the possibility of human activity under water by providing him with the air mixture necessary for breathing.

Underwater exercises for a diver

Before the main dive, a novice diver needs to know and be able to perform certain techniques necessary in this sport.

We bring to your attention the most important of them:

Diving feet down with scuba gear— (if there are problems with breathing alignment, it is recommended to dive feet first).

Once the BCD has completely emptied, the diver exhales after the first equalization of pressure at the surface of the water and slowly descends, breathing normally and performing regular breath equalizations.

Diving upside down

Experienced and agile divers who do not have problems equalizing pressure can dive from a swimmer's position: after releasing air from the BC, the upper body should be bent at a right angle and dive in the same way as with a snorkel.

The legs are jerked into a vertical position above the water. The own weight of the legs above the surface of the water presses on the diver, plunging him into the water. Once the fins are completely submerged, you can start paddling with them.

Partially and completely filling the mask with water, removing the mask and swimming without a mask

If the mask strap breaks underwater or moves upward after jumping into the water, the mask may become separated from the face. To prepare the diver for this situation, various stages of filling the mask with water and blowing it out are simulated, up to and including swimming without a mask.

Partially filling the mask with water and blowing

First, by carefully lifting the sealing edge of the mask, enough water is allowed into it so that the eyes are not covered. The diver must inhale and exhale through the mouth. Once there is enough water in the mask, it can be removed by simply pressing the top seal of the mask with one or both hands and exhaling through the nose at the same time.

Towards the beginning of the exhalation, the diver looks down to raise his head to a vertical position during exhalation through the nose. The air entering the mask will displace the water. If there is still water left, simply inhale from the air regulator and remove the water by exhaling again through your nose while pressing down on the top edge of the mask.

Fill the mask completely with water and blow out

During this exercise, as described above, the sealing edge of the mask is raised completely until the mask is filled with water. Those who wear contact lenses should close their eyes during this exercise to prevent the lenses from being washed away by water.

Water entering the mask may cause some people to feel overwhelmed and unable to breathe. Concentrating on calm, even breathing will help you cope with this feeling (inhale through the mouth - exhale through the mouth or inhale through the mouth - exhale through the nose).
Remove your mask completely and swim without a mask

Hold the breathing regulator in your mouth and remove the mask underwater while continuing to breathe calmly. Then swim in contact with your partner for 1 minute. If you squint your eyes hard, you can generally see the environment and navigate it.

This exercise is required to obtain certification from almost all international sport diving organizations.

Remove and put the breathing regulator back into your mouth

If it may be necessary to remove the breathing regulator from the mouth underwater, for example to alternate breathing, the diver must be able to remove any water that has entered the regulator before breathing.

Attention!

During all exercises in which the breathing regulator is not in the mouth, the airways must be open to prevent lung injury from excess pressure during ascent. This is due to the constant release of small bubbles while the regulator is not in the mouth.

Removing water from the breathing regulator can be done in two different ways.

1. Before removing the regulator, you should inhale, and when returning it to your mouth, simply exhale into the regulator to remove any water that has entered there.

2. If there is no air to blow through the regulator when exhaling, you should briefly press the air shower, displacing the penetrated water.

Prices. Diving for beginners.

To avoid inhaling splashes of water when you turn on the air shower, you can plug the mouthpiece with the tip of your tongue.

Returning the breathing regulator to the mouth is done by tilting the entire body in the direction on which the regulator is located, usually to the right. If the breathing regulator is located at the back, then due to its own weight it moves forward.

At the same time, move your hand on this side of the body back and then forward in a circular motion. In most cases, the combination of body tilt and arm circular motion will cause the medium pressure hose to catch on the arm.

If this does not happen, you should grab the bottom of the cylinder with one hand and lift it up, while the other hand simultaneously tries to feel the second stage behind your head along the medium pressure hose.

Sports in Moscow

Diving - what you need for diving

Diving is probably the only sport or hobby that a person can never replace with anything else.

Diving. Everything you need to know about diving for beginners

To plunge into the depths of the sea, to find yourself in an unusual habitat for humans, among beautiful plants and extraordinary sea creatures - what could be more mysterious and at the same time more interesting.

What is diving?

Jacques Cousteau is called the father of diving. It was he who created the first scuba gear, which gave many people the opportunity to touch a previously unknown world.

Despite the fact that the father of diving is French, the word itself has English roots. The word comes from the English verb “to dive”, which means “dive”. The concept of diving comes from this word.

Diving- This is diving under water with special equipment that provides the necessary supply of oxygen.

Types of diving

In the world of scuba diving, there are four main types of diving:

1. recreational;
2. sports;
3. technical;
4. professional.

Recreational diving designed for the pleasure of diving underwater. This type of diving is practiced by amateurs while relaxing on the seas. The maximum diving depth is 40 meters, but this is enough to enjoy the beauty of the marine world and get up close and personal with its inhabitants.

Sport diving- this is the same recreational diving. A person receives not only pleasure from diving, but also sports excitement. From such pleasure you can take prizes and receive rewards. The first sport diving took place in 2008 in Hurghada. Today, every country hosts small diving sporting events.

There are four types of sport diving:

• combined (300 meters);
• obstacle course;
• lifting loads up to 6 kg;
• night dive.

Technical diving is called a dive underwater if one or more of the following conditions are met: a dive of more than 40 meters, a decompression dive, the presence of a physical barrier, i.e. on the surface of the water, the use of several types of gas mixture (air, nitrox, trimix, heliox), use of a closed or semi-closed cycle rebreather. For example, such diving can include diving under ice, into the abyss of water to explore sunken ships, etc.

Professional diving associated with the performance of specialized work, for example, searching for people after a shipwreck, scientific, cinematic or naval diving. This type of diving is carried out by specially trained people - rescuers, sailors, etc.

Indications and contraindications for diving

I want to go diving, but is it possible?

This is the question everyone who wants to dive underwater asks themselves. They do this for a reason, but because diving under water is a very serious and domestic step and without prior preparation you can get serious injuries.

Diving, like simple swimming, helps people (see the link about the benefits of swimming). It helps to improve well-being, calms a person and develops physical activity, including all muscle groups during immersion. Diving improves blood circulation and stabilizes the respiratory system.

Diving is intended only for healthy people. Unfortunately, people who have health problems, even minor ones, are not recommended to dive under water.

• epilepsy, schizophrenia, encephalopathy and other diseases of the nervous system that can lead to seizures and loss of consciousness;
• heart disease, cardiac arrhythmia, stage 1 and 2 arterial hypertension and other diseases of the cardiovascular system, which can lead to loss of consciousness and cardiac arrest;
• bronchial asthma, chronic lung disease, respiratory failure and other problems of the respiratory system that lead to suffocation;
• various diseases of the nose, throat, ears, which lead to the gag reflex and dizziness.

During colds, diving under water is also prohibited, especially with rhinitis, acute respiratory disease, flu, bronchitis, etc. Any chronic and acute diseases are already a contraindication to diving.

For example, if you go diving while you have a simple runny nose, the minor illness will turn into otitis media. Frivolous coughing under water leads to the loss of a scuba mouthpiece, and catarrhal tonsillitis develops into a more serious disease - follicular or lacunar tonsillitis.

Therefore, it is very important to consult a doctor before diving.

What you need for diving

If there are no contraindications to diving, then you need to acquire special equipment. A diver's equipment includes: mask and snorkel, regulator and octopus, compensator vest, instrument panel, dive computer, fins and wetsuit.

Mask necessary in order to maintain the volume of air between the eyes and nose and enjoy watching life under water.

A tube Suitable for diving 50 cm or 1 meter, and also when it is necessary to swim on the surface. This way you can save air in the cylinder. The snorkel is always located near the diver's head.

Regulator allows the diver to breathe air from the cylinder. The regulator is always in the person's mouth. If for some reason a person or his partner loses a regulator, then the octopus allows you to get out of the situation and help you rise to the surface. To put it simply, this is a spare regulator, which is always located on a long hose near the cylinder and has a bright color to make it easier to find.

Cylinder and other additional accessories attached to the diver using a compensator vest. In addition, the vest helps a person maintain neutral buoyancy in the water. This is thanks to the grooved inflator, which is located on the left shoulder and allows you to release or pump in air.

The instrument panel controls the pressure in the cylinder, loading depth, water temperature and more.

A dive computer is the same console, but with more functionality. It allows you to calculate the degree of saturation of a person’s blood with nitrogen or oxygen based on given parameters, calculate the time and depth of decompression stops, and much more.

The most important elements are fins and a wetsuit. Fins allow you to move quickly in the water, and a wetsuit allows you to retain body heat if you dive into cold water. In warm water, diving can be done without a wetsuit.

While diving underwater, a person discovers a completely new world that can calm him down. A world that is dangerous, thanks to sharks and piranhas, and at the same time mysterious due to sunken ships. It is the unknown that forces the diver to go deeper and deeper.

Prepared by Personal Sport.ru

Diving rules for beginners

Scuba diving (diving) will allow you to see the mysterious and dangerous, beautiful water world with your own eyes and give you new sensations of weightlessness.
Diving is an extreme sport, which means it is unsafe for health, so knowledge of the rules of diving is mandatory!

Regardless of how much success you have achieved in other sports, when diving underwater, use the rules of diving for beginners.

Diving equipment:

A gentleman's set for deep diving must include a diving mask, a wetsuit, fins, a diving computer, compressed air cylinders and a regulator.
A properly sized mask and wetsuit will protect your eyes from water and your body from hypothermia. Flippers will help you move faster while maintaining strength. With the help of a dive computer, you can control the depth and speed of your dive. The buoyancy compensator will help maintain the optimal level of diving ability, and through the regulator you will receive air from the cylinders.

Diving: diving rules

1. Start your diving lessons by diving with a mask and fins at the surface of the water. The depth of diving during diving limits the maneuverability of actions (ascent speed) and changes in atmospheric pressure (every 10m = 1 Atm). Diving tests at the surface of the water - psychological preparation for the next stage, diving at 10-15m.

I warn extreme sports enthusiasts right away: diving to a depth of more than 30m, especially if you are not used to it, can lead to nitrogen narcosis, in which euphoria occurs, behavior becomes inappropriate and life-threatening.

2. Dive in a vertical position and be sure to “blow out your ears” every 5m of the dive or more often. To do this, close your mouth, pinch your nose and exhale calmly through your mouth. Diving head down too quickly can lead to barotrauma (due to a sharp increase in atmospheric pressure).

3. Ascend slowly. A decrease in atmospheric pressure due to ascent too quickly can lead to compression (so-called decompression sickness).

4. Do not hold your breath and do not save air in the cylinders!
This is fraught with oxygen starvation: dizziness, weakness may begin, and the risk of losing control over the situation increases. Therefore, it is important to maintain even, rhythmic breathing while diving.

5 Learn dive sign language and don't dive alone
You can communicate with your instructor or diving partners during a dive using the generally accepted system of gestures developed by the Federation of Underwater Sports and Underwater Activities, CMAS:
“Everything is fine” - we show “Ok”.
“Let’s go diving” - the palm is clenched into a fist, with the thumb pointing down.
“I'm frozen” - hug yourself, patting your shoulders.
“Stop! Wait!" - open palm directed at the partner.
“Run out of air” - arm extended forward, palm down or palm down - at neck level.
“The pressure in the cylinder is 100 bar” - show your partner your palms with your fingers spread out or as a “time out”.
“The pressure in the cylinder is 50 bar, I’m finishing the dive” - hand up, palm clenched into a fist.
"Let's float up!" - palm clenched into a fist, with the thumb pointing upward.

Diving: should the meeting place be changed?!

If the water is too cold. With a long stay (more than 20 minutes) in cool water (up to 16°C), especially with fast currents, when the body “gives off” heat as much as possible, the risk of hypothermia increases.

This is useful to know for beginner divers

Summer days that are not too hot (up to 30°C) and without precipitation are most favorable for diving. Comfortable water temperature for diving is 21–25°C.

If the water is too cloudy. The safest place to learn diving is a swimming pool.
For your first open water diving, a sea or lake with clear water and visibility of at least 10m is suitable.

Contraindications for diving

• cardiovascular diseases: heart disease (atrial septal defect), hypertension, atherosclerosis, heart rhythm disturbances, angina pectoris;
• chronic diseases of the lungs and respiratory tract: emphysema, exercise-induced bronchial asthma;
• diseases of the ear, nose and throat: otitis media, sinusitis;
• eye diseases: conjunctivitis, blepharitis;
• skin diseases: eczema, dermatomycosis;
• metabolic diseases: overweight, obesity, decompensated diabetes mellitus;
• diseases of the musculoskeletal system (bursitis, arthritis, arthrosis, absence of limbs).

Tests

Diving is underwater diving using special equipment and equipment that provides the necessary supply of air for breathing underwater for a long period of time. Currently, scuba diving is an excellent active and exciting form of recreation, which can be done in Thailand at any time of the year, regardless of climatic conditions. The underwater world is fraught with a lot of unknown and unique things, it fascinates with its beauty, and for this you need to master the basics of diving.

Diving Dolphins

There are several areas of scuba diving.

Initially, they used diving with holding their breath for a short period of time, or free diving, which was used as one of the types of sports swimming.
Another way is to dive deep into water in an air bell. The chambers maintained the necessary atmospheric pressure around the diver and protected them from the effects of water.

One of the stages of development is diving to a depth with compressed air, which enters the regulator through a hose.

Diving: instructions for beginners

This method of immersion is used to carry out work in hard-to-reach places.
Currently, there are several types of diving, which are considered as entertainment, a form of active recreation or professional activity.
The most famous and widespread type is sports diving with the aim of exploring the beauty of the depths of the sea, flora and fauna of the underwater world.

Night diving is another type of underwater diving and allows you to see the behavior of the inhabitants of the seas and oceans, which are predominantly nocturnal. For this type of diving, additional equipment is used - lamps and underwater lights, stratoscopes. It is necessary to study in detail the place of the upcoming dive, since night diving is not permissible in places with currents, master the equipment and have the skills of night underwater photography if you are going to capture what is happening on camera. This type of dive is only available to professional divers.
Modern equipment allows diving for a fairly long period of time and is used for exploring and studying sea caves and grottoes. This is, of course, a rather dangerous and risky type of diving, so special attention is paid to the preparation process and equipment. Additionally, take spare oxygen cylinders, ropes, and fastenings.

Diving Basics

Spearfishing is an exotic and amazing type of diving, which is divided into professional and amateur hunting, where the result is not so important as the exciting process itself. The environmental conditions where spearfishing takes place are also important.
One of the popular types of underwater diving is the exploration of sunken objects, many of which are priceless exhibits, and what could be more exciting than plunging into the world of the history of ancient civilizations and admiring the remains of sunken ships.

Diving Basics

Recently, a technical type of diving has been widely used, in which special equipment and gas mixtures are used, thanks to which it is possible to stay under water for a long time and carry out underwater work at a depth of more than 600 meters.
Photography and videography have become widespread, thanks to which you can capture amazing and unique moments from the life of the inhabitants of the underwater world.

Diving Basics